 First of all, let me wish you all a happy new year. I hope yours was as encouraging as mine. This morning, I thought it was only important to begin the new year by Susse, saying happy new year to my constituents, and that this year will be a year of tremendous progress. As you will be aware, we were the government which completed the bridge in Canaries. We are now about to do so in Ansari. Beginning this week with the demolition of the residences. It took some time to get to this point because we had to satisfactorily relocate the affected members. So all the five residences have been replaced satisfactorily. And hopefully this week, commencing this morning, the process towards demolition will commence. There's also work happening on the Otabor Court. We've put in the lights, we've done the resurfacing. We are also working on the jetting in Ansari. There was an issue with the bed on breakfast. And it's only a few years ago, the prime minister approved the budget to put in the sewer treatment plant. The previous administration, for some weird reason, fed it as necessary, it was not necessary to put in a sewer treatment plant. So there's literally a pipe flowing from what would be a flush urinal going directly into the sea, which is something we would not countenance. So we did some work and we have now been able to say definitively that we will be putting the sewer treatment plant and that the bed on breakfast in Ansari will continue in the right manner. We are also working on the relaunching of the Friday fish fry, which we know is a very important initiative for the constituency of Ansari because of the revenue that it generates. We are also working to complete the NSDC building, which was a building that was commenced under the last administration for the young people of Ansari. But for whatever reason, the former administration did not believe it was important enough, so they stopped the works on it. But we have now confirmed that we're gonna recommence the work on that, so the young people of Ansari canaries. Ansari in particular will have a place to hone their talents and practice their skill and meet to recreate because we are not what everyone seems to suggest we are. We are modern, the misfortune that they suggest we are. We have talent, we have knowledge, we have enthusiasm, we have the vigor. So we are essentially saying to the young people of Ansari canaries, we believe in you and we're making that space available for you to do what has to be done. Moving beyond that, in the community of canaries, as you may be aware, by the end of this month, we would have completed the works on the restaurant and market in canaries. So we are looking forward to launching that and making it a great success. We've installed, we're in the process of installing an outdoor gym in Jackmel as we speak. It's almost complete. We just need to do the surfacing of the ground now. We've also commenced work on the Montsezo Bridge and you would have reported some time ago that there was some issue of the Montsezo Bridge, but the contractor has been engaged and work has already commenced. So that is going on very, very wonderful. We've also started rehabilitation works on the field roads leading to some of the very important farming communities in Jackmel. So the Delago Road part one has been done and we're working this week on the second phase of the Delago rehabilitation. All in all, my purpose at this moment is to reassure my constituents that the day does not go by if we don't, if I personally don't consider what I could do to improve their lives. I did not get into this business to be called simply a minister. I got into this business simply because I want to improve the lives of the people and the constituency who raised me and made me who I am today. I have every intention on delivering on every single commitment because I didn't make any promises to them at the election. I made commitments to them that I will do certain things. And I'm here this morning to reassure them that all of those commitments that I made will be delivered. Any questions from you, I'll be happy to take them before I rush off to cabinet to do the business of the country. I think this question is more just for me but also for my colleagues. We haven't seen much of you in recent times. Was there any reason for that in particular and what will be seen more of you in the future? Well, you see, I thought it was important to be quite honest with you. It's a very significant ministry. I thought it was important to be very honest with you to concentrate on doing the best that I can there to understand how the system works. It wasn't any deliberate attempt to avoid the media. I have no issue to avoid you. It's just I believe that I had to get my head down and get comfortable with the ministry that I was meant to be functioning it. But going forward, I expect to see, you expect to see more of me because there's quite a bit for me to discuss with you. So I look forward to having that conversation. Well, yes, as you know, it's a very significant initiative of this government. We have the bed and breakfast, for example, is part of this community tourism initiative. The works on the jetty is also part of the community tourism initiative. In a few weeks time, I will come back to you to give you the precise date of the relaunching of our fish ride. All of this comes under community tourism. We believe that we have a lot of product or sites that are available for us to develop. Because it's one thing to bring in the tourists and get them to benefit from our beautiful island. But I need to ensure that with regards to my constituency that we have attraction and experiences that the constituents could benefit from when the tourists come through. What you may be aware of, what you may not be aware of under the last administration, despite the Member of Parliament for Anceri and was the Minister of Tourism, Anceri was only seen as a rest stop for tourists on the way to Sufre. So they would only stop in Anceri to use the bathroom. And this is a very significant point. We were featured as a rest room stop for tourists coming to this country. This is not acceptable and we will not continue with this operation. Anceri has more to offer other than people stopping to use the bathroom. Yes, yes. Well, very good question. The Otaba Court, which has never had lights before, we've already installed the lights in the process of resurfacing the court and marking it up for use of the community. When you look at all of the fields in the constituency, they are well maintained than ever before. We make it our duty to do it. Although there are days at times when, because the Council of Anceri is responsible for the fields from Anceri all the way to Millet. Sometimes it's difficult for them to maintain the fields as often as I would like, but it is something that we recognize is important. So the field in Millet will be maintained very regularly. The court in Millet is also under review in terms of how we're going to improve it. Let's be very honest with ourselves. When we got into government in 2021, none of those facilities were looked after. We were seen as not important. There were other things that were important to the other Member of Parliament, which starting in the new year, we won't go into it now. But those are very important facilities to me and to the members of this constituency. We have a tremendous amount of talent in Anceri Canaries, spotting talent. And it would be my intention to ensure that those facilities are improved before you come back and ask me this question again. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the press and happy new year to all of you. First, let me thank you, of course, last year for providing coverage and asking me so many questions. Of course, I enjoyed the time with you. And I hope this year, as we continue to do the same, that I will always have information put in and important to share with you or to share with the public through you. This morning, I need to inform you that our income support to date as of this morning, we have passed the 5,000 plus that have applied for income support. So more than 5,000 persons have applied. The total amount to benefit out of the income support is 4,900 thereabout, just shy. But we have surpassed. And I would like to encourage persons who have not applied to do so, because we need to assess persons and we ensure that all persons who receive are those who are qualified to receive. There probably may be a few hundred persons that on the list of that has been assessed, that need to supply more information, but in the mean that a number of persons who are applying are persons who need the support. It also provides a window in terms of assessing persons who are informally employed. It gives us a window to assess that data and how they are surviving in the constituency. And we as a ministry, speaking of that data, to see what more we can do to provide support for persons who are in the formal sector. So yes, I'm happy with this. We have paid a number of persons during the month of December. We have over checks, over 300 checks were issued. And of course, there are still more checks prepared and persons are coming in to pick up the checks. So it is ongoing, as I speak. So persons are coming to the ministry on the fourth floor and collecting the checks, $1,500 and are going out to take care of their business and the fluid and water flow, right? Yes. Let's take a little bit to the criteria for search funding. Who can get that? Okay, persons from the informal sector and persons who did not benefit basically are the two important criteria for qualifying. However, that may capture a number of persons. So we look at other vulnerabilities and other deprivation. We ensure that we address persons who are worse off. So persons who lost a loved one during COVID would also be a factor to be considered as well. And other effects of COVID on a family. So some households have applied, but that household also took a loan to bury a loved one and has not paid. We would consider this. Family member in that household may be inflicted with cancer. So we would give priority to that individual and what have you. So there are a number of other deprivations or issues relating to a household that, in a household that would consider the applicant receiving the $1,500 in addition to the basic criteria as outlined. Yeah, we've not, but it's a matter that I personally have discussed in house with the permanent secretary and we're looking in this year's budget not to look at just current fire victims, but we will go down into the database of the fire department, don't have a database on persons who have been affected by fire. And we are doing a research on it to determine how they have recovered, what has happened to them and who are they in the mean. So the last that I checked with it, I spoke with the fire department on the database. They do have all of the information. So we will go back over so many years and do our studies to find out what has happened to fire victims and of course to see what we can put in place in terms of a response that can be sustainable. One of the things that I'm happy about that the prime minister has done is to reduce significantly the fire report from $200 to $25. So a fire victim used to pay $200 for the fire report. And can you imagine after you've lost a basic dwelling and you're only left with your clothes on that you're now being asked to pay $200 to the fire department for fire reports so that you can receive a basic, you know, kit from the Red Cross or from the people of the disaster. People who respond to the disasters and that has been difficult, but I'm happy PM has done this. So now you only have to come up with $25 really to cover people and printing to get the fire report. But that is not adequate for us, the Ministry of Equity. We continue to investigate how they respond, how they recover after the fire because there are times that you have other issues. If there's a loss in the family, persons who have had some fatalities, how it affect the households and what have you, the trauma, what is available in terms of counseling and all of that sort of thing is things that we are currently paying attention to at the Ministry of Equity for fire victims. So the roof on the roof. Can I just add to all of this? Yeah. So is there a plan to make the process easier for them to navigate the complicated, the public sector agency that we need to know? Yes, all of this, all of this, we are looking at this and subsequent to... Well, following the budget presentation, you would hear a lot more about some of those crisis responses, but we are considering looking at people in crisis a lot closer in terms of responding to some of these things. The ID cards, there are a number of important documents they would have lost and it's needed for them to move on. So we're going to work on that. But surely the distress fund comes in handy, right? Yes, the distress fund respond in so far as some aspect of people in crisis, but we'll do a lot more in terms of ensuring that we provide more support as a Ministry to our fire victims. Yes, would you like to show the proper dwelling place? Yes, yes, so we are speaking. I'm speaking with the Senegal Social Development Fund and I'm having conversation even with my constituents in terms of the dwelling home. I consider it that it's cheaper to build a concrete structure than to build a plywood house based on the cost of concrete and plywood. And we encourage, and it's cheaper to build underground than to build on suspended columns. So there's a culture of how we set up our homes. We need to have that conversation and it needs to be done empirically so that person see exactly what has been done. So when I did check, it's about $80 per square yard to about $50 per square yard, $50 per square yard for concrete block wallars against $80 per square yard for plywood stud partition. And you could do it just based on looking at materials only. So this is something that we need to speak with our people as to how they set up the dwelling. But the fire department also will provide us with information in terms of the cause of fires. And if we see a trend in terms of fires have been associated with electrical, for example, problems in our home, then we would work with households and with the Ministry of Infrastructure as to how we provide capacity building and training and to allow people to become more sensitive to the issue of electricity in plywood houses, existing plywood houses and what have you. So we will be working with the fire department come this year so that we help fire victims. It's a matter that we have discussed with our STOs, with the Department of Equity so that we could provide that support. The community development unit within your ministry which is the first phase of our mentorship program. I'll speak to the important initiatives like these and tell us how the first phase went. But the actual content of the, partly of you would find something out from the Ministry of Equity. But the issue of capacity building for our ministry is significant. And we have done a number of initiatives as it relates to providing that sort of training across St. Lucia. And we will continue to retrofit our community centers to allow these things to happen a lot easier. One of the things that we recognize that some of our community centers, our HRDCs, are set up but persons are not using it, the community is not leading. So we will be working with the community based organization to allow and retrofit for these things to happen. This was a successful one by all indication reports from the officers speaking in terms of what they did and how persons receive it. But mentorship and the importance of providing that support at community level is important to us and the work of the STOs. But you would find a lot more work associated with that initiative in this coming year. We will be refocusing our STOs basically to do community based interventions like this. So expect if I think we have about 10 social transformation officers across the island, expect to see them in the communities, move in the communities along those lines, using the HRDCs retrofitting HRDCs so that these things can happen without spending much money. Let me add to the hardest question here. Cricut, so dependency mindset among the people and another one of the benefits. All they want to do, is the person that's going to be strictly on partisan lines? What's their response to some of that retrofit? That is so, that is not the case, absolutely. One of the things that I've respected at the Ministry of Equity is our Proximance Test. When persons from my constituency come to me and they ask me, they say they believe, they qualify, they ask them to apply. You apply online. It goes to jits that downstairs the government website. The names are transferred to the NIC. The NIC goes through the names and ensure that these persons did not receive and then come to our ministry. I have not personalized any name in terms of somebody from my constituency. I respect those programs and I would love to see the government want for these programs to work as they intended to. It is sad that people seek the work of this government by helping vulnerable population in a way that some people say that it's going to create a dependency syndrome. It's going to create as if persons will not want to move on. I disagree with this vehemently. No other group of persons work as hard to care for their family than the population who apply for the income support. You know, when you take our vulnerable population, look at the amount of coolers by the side of the roadside. Look at the vendors in Aso Square. Go by the market. Even on Christmas day and on New Year's day, the vendors will be trying to earn a living. These people deserve the support. When I ask, when I evaluate our vulnerable population and I think they are a significant part of our population, 24% vulnerable to poverty and we have another 25% living below the poverty line. And I really pay attention to what has happened over the years. They're not the ones who receive, you know, when they order to get them. The concessions, the large concessions that we give to our hoteliers. They're not the ones who receive concessions that other large businesses receive. No. And these people who receive those concessions, they depend on the concessions to continue to run the business. So when the government provides support in times of crisis, in times of difficulty to our vulnerable population, it is what a good government must do. Regarding support, I think it prevents you from talking about a support program where you can be an easier payment, meant about the struggle to pay utilities. Yes, yes. Well, the low select department has given the undertaking that 2024. We will see the roll out of the prepaid electricity platform for vulnerable population that would allow, or it will sort of discontinue disconnection in the way that it's being done. That is one of the benefits of it and allow persons to utilize the electricity because they can see it's going down in a way that they can manage well. I do not know if there's any downside to low select or the persons who have invested in the electrical sector in terms of how much money they'll make, but certainly if we can consume less, then it's better for us and it's more poor approached in utilizing services. And I hope thereafter that is not only low select that would move in that direction, but other service providers, see how persons use postpaid phones as again prepaid, persons who use prepaid have a lot more discipline in terms of how they manage the phone as against those who use postpaid, and just have to pay the month and can't pay the monthly bill irrespective of what it is. So the same for electricity, you can prepare your electricity bill and you put $50 and that's what you're going to utilize for the week because that's what you can afford. You will say I'll not use the electricity, I'll not iron this today because this thing might just take me to the end, I'll just keep the fridge on and to keep some food. You will manage your utilities, you'll pay attention to how you consume. It is that attitude that the prepaid electricity has been suggested by low select in 2024 that is coming through and I'm excited about having this initiative that brings inclusion. Okay, well, since you don't have a question, let me just place on the record that all schools, public schools reopened their doors this morning to receive students and I speak of 22 public secondary schools, 71 primary schools and in the case of our early government run early childhood centers, day cares, 20 of them would have opened their doors this morning to receive students with the exception of the cul-de-sac early childhood center where we have a minor issue in relation to infrastructure that we're currently working on. The reports coming from the various education districts indicate that students are a bit, teachers are a bit and that most schools progress in very smoothly this morning. I expect a few disruptions during the term and as most of you would be aware, our government has embarked on a comprehensive school rehabilitation program and in the last six to eight months, we have committed or Prime Minister has committed approximately $25 million for school rehabilitation and that is being, that money is being used in three separate programs. Namely, we have the TVET component of that program that we currently retrofitting four secondary schools to be TVET specific institutes and some of the retrofitting that I speak of basically deals with issues where classrooms are being converted into studios, traditional classrooms are being converted into barbershops because these are some of the skills you want to impact to the students who will be attending those schools. We're also still working on the rehabilitation of schools that would have been impacted by tropical storm breath and most of the works on this particular line, the work has been executed and it's just a few schools where we basically put in finishing touches but the biggest of the three components is the 20 million that we received from the AFRI Exim Bank where a number of schools had been airmarked for rehabilitation. The work ranges from as smaller component as a window replacement to the demolition and total reconstruction of school blocks. In case in point, the entry post-secondary school, that school has been in existence for more than four decades, almost five decades have been told and we have certain wings at that school where the infrastructure is badly compromised and so at the entry post-secondary school, we are looking to expand in excess of six, seven million dollars for the construction of a new block. In the south, the plain view school is down for some major works as well. We have a timber block that we will knock down and that will be replaced with a concrete structure. The peerless school is also down for major works as well. We have had some issues at Moshi, at Grand Riviere and as I indicated, this is all part and parcel of a comprehensive school rehabilitation program that we've embarked on where in the last six to 10 months, the government or should I say the minister of finance and prime minister has put forward roughly 25 million dollars to treat with some of the issues that we have in relation to school infrastructure. The one challenge we are having is that as you know, in the academic year, you have three breaks. You have the Christmas break which basically spans two weeks, sometimes three. During the Easter break, as we call it, you have two to three weeks and during what we call a summer break, you have seven and sometimes eight weeks. None of these windows gives you sufficient time to be able to execute the work as you want, especially given the nature of what has to be undertaken. And so we have found ourselves in a situation and this is not the first time it's happening where you would have certain infrastructure projects being executed at a time when the students are in school. We are asking for patients. We are asking for cooperation on the part of all stakeholders to allow for some of those works to happen even when the students are in school. It has happened before and let me give the assurance to all stakeholders in particular parents and teachers that we as a ministry will employ the strictest occupational health and safety standards that we know to ensure that the children are out of harm's way even whilst those projects are being executed. We inherited a situation when we came into government where the school plant across the country left a lot to be desired and the 25 million that I initially mentioned, it will cause us to ameliorate the situation at quite a few schools but it is just a drop in the bucket in terms of what is needed to give us that total transformation of the school plant across the length and breadth of this country. But I'm extremely pleased and I'm extremely grateful that the Prime Minister once again has come forward and made resources available to the Ministry of Education to try and provide as comfortable an environment as possible within which children and teachers can interface and basically to help impact the national curriculum and prepare our children for life after school. 2021 I directed the LA 400 Scholarship in a large shell. You have an arrangement with Monroe College and more recently you have a such an arrangement with UWe where you provide up to 10,000 dollars for eligible students or applicants. What's the thinking behind sending all these people to school and why do you want to provide that? Education is a priority area of programming for the Philippe JPA administration and this is born out of a philosophy where as a small island developing state where we do not have natural mineral resources, we understand that it is the quality of our human resource base more than anything else that will determine house and leisure fairs in the international stage. And so at every opportunity we will provide opportunities for our young people to access higher education. We have demonstrated as a country that smallness of size is not an impediment to what we can achieve and we will provide our students with all the opportunities that we can get for them so that they can realize their dreams. And we have this program in government in the Ministry of Education where we are pitching to have one university graduate per household. It might take us some time, but I believe it is a goal. It is a dream that is realizable and it's against that backdrop also that you have seen an exponential increase in the number of solutions who are accessing higher education. One such program is the first generation scholarship program which our government has embarked on in collaboration with Monroe College where persons who are coming from families where absolutely nobody in the family has been exposed to higher education. We are saying to them that once they have the aptitude and they have the prerequisites to enter the programs, we will meet them halfway. We will make the opportunities available so that they can realize their dreams. For too long, there are young people in this country who have shown that they have the ability. They are capable, but because of socioeconomic circumstances at home, the parents do not have the means. Close relatives do not have the means. Those children have been left to languish and it is the children of the rich and those who have the means who have gone on to university. With this first generation scholarship program, we are saying whether you're from Souffre, you're from Choset, you're from Denry, you're from Grosile, Barbon Road, Canrys, Anslery. Once you have the prerequisites, you have the aptitude and the ability our government is meeting you halfway irrespective of where you're from, your political affiliation, and we are giving you the opportunity to realize your dream, go out there, enroll at university and graduate as a proud young's evolution. This is nicely coupled or complemented rather. With another program we have with Monroe College, where we provide 17 scholarships annually, three full scholarships and 14 partial scholarships to complement the 51st generation scholarships. But we've gone further and we're not working only with Monroe College, but as a government we have placed on the record in the parliament and elsewhere that we have a moral responsibility to the University of the West Indies to ensure that UWE continues to thrive as a flagship institution in the hemisphere, not just the Caribbean. For the first time our government did put measures in place to allow people who, or solutions who are studying with UWE, away from what we call the London campuses. The London campuses being Cavill in Barbados, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Mona in Jamaica. Traditionally you would have qualified for economic costs if you were studying at one of the London campuses and persons who enrolling with the University of the West Indies via the open campus, they did not qualify. This administration in this term, we have made it possible for solution studying with UWE via the open campus to qualify for government assistance. We have rolled out the UniPast which is basically a program where we provide financial resources to solutions who have probably embarked on their own on a journey of higher education but they've encountered difficulties along the way and they're saying to government, we need some assistance to finish. High personally, I mean, and dated with phone calls and messages practically every week where you have a solution who has gone on his own or her own to pursue higher education but the resources have not been sufficient and so they are stranded. This UniPast program is tailored in such a way that as a student who's stranded with one year to go, one semester to go, you can come to the Ministry of Education, you can complete an application form and based on the established criteria we will help you get out of your difficulties. And there's so much more happening. The Saafa Louise Community College Basery Program is thriving for students who are embarking on post-secondary education. We also have the nursing program at Saafa where we are giving a stipend to the students who are enrolled and there is so much more happening in the realm of higher education. We have scholarships where we send our students off to Hungary. The Moroccan scholarship has been there for a while and the last cohort of young solutions would have gone to Taiwan, I can tell you is one of the largest cohorts in recent memory. So we are committed to providing the opportunities for young solutions. And then we have those persons in society who do not necessarily need a government scholarship because they have the means and they have the security to face the bank. This administration under the leadership of Honorable Philip J.P., our Prime Minister, very recently we went to the parliament where we guaranteed millions of dollars that students can tap into at the solution development bank to pursue higher education. And again, this sits well with our philosophy that education is one of the vehicles that will take St. Lucia into the future and education is one of the guaranteed means through which young solutions can be given an opportunity to realize their true potential. The Prime Minister is on the record several times as saying that there is no St. Lucia standard and there are global standards that we have to subscribe to. So whether a child is from Ancillary or a child is from Bexon or a child is from Prowley or Margaret Toot in Monripoe, the educational opportunities that we give to our students when they have gone through our processes and our system, that child should be able to sit almost anywhere in the world and match his counterparts irrespective of where in the world that the counterpart would have been schooled. The Ministry of Education has been in touch with the SLTU and we are in a position to show evidence where the SLTU was consulted on that particular matter. But we do not want any back and forth with the SLTU. I am on the record as stating that the St. Lucia Teachers Union is too important an ally for the Ministry of Education for there to be any back and forth for acrimony to be encouraged between the SLTU and the Ministry of Education. We value the SLTU as a partner and I can't even speak for myself. When I left the classrooms to enter politics, so many years, three elections ago, up to today, the 7th of January, I still pay my dues by way of salary deduction to the SLTU and this is a reflection of what I think of the SLTU, very important organization in the scheme of national development and there's nothing that I want more as Minister of Education than for there to be a thriving and healthy working relationship with the St. Lucia Teachers Union. The review is still ongoing. The review of the Education Act is still ongoing. We want for as much as possible for there to be broad-based consultation so that whatever we agree upon and whatever we take to Parliament to be enacted, it will be a true reflection of the national mindset as it relates to education. So we will not rush the process, we will be very thorough and as I said, very important, we want for everybody to make a contribution because this is not about what we think in the Ministry of Education, but we understand that they are very critical stakeholders and partners we're working with and their input is very necessary to ensure that the final document reflects what we want as a country. They have always, the SLTU has always been, we have always been available for dialogue on consultation with the SLTU but I can tell you that moving forward, the SLTU will always be treated as an indispensable partner in this process. Good morning, good morning, the Ingenuity Press. Happy New Year to all of you. This year we'll have a very exciting and productive year. I wish you all the best personally and your families and your different media houses wish you and your managers and your directors and your newscasters and your talk show hosts all the best. Over to you. Oh, you saw that. Ah. First of all, the, okay, you saw that, thank you. I didn't choose a contractor. I didn't choose, I never choose contractors. A procurement process of the Ministry of Physical Development which are outlined to you here. First of all, Zika City Suite is a project that showed the recklessness of the last government. They destroyed a facility that houses prisoners or houses arrested people. I must be clear because you are considered innocent until proven guilty. That facility was demolished, destroyed for absolutely no reason. When that happened, people who were arrested there was no way to put them. The cells in Marsha and Grozile and Babono were always full. So the police had to take them something to suffure, to answer a, to canaries, sometimes as far as suffure or even show cell. That was not sustainable. So the police sometimes drove arrested persons around town for a line and released them up the morn until they get their way back to castries. That was what the United States party left in this country as far as arrested prisoners were concerned. That's what they left when they demolished the custody suites. That's what they left. Arrested people have been taken for a ride by the police, a line. So, I never said so. I said people, I never said so. I said people who were arrested and had to be taken in for questioning, hold them back for a night or so. There was no place to keep them. All the cells were full, so they had to release them. Custody suites. The custody suites project was conceived by a tender document from the government of San Wusha. A tender document. That tender document was, it was sent out to four tenders. Four tenders responded to this tender document. An evaluation of the four tenders was done after a side visit that was conducted in February. A side visit was conducted prior to the submission of the tender documents. Submissions were to be received on or before February 8th, 2023. Submissions on the third end documents. Tended and corrected amounts. Four tenders. Carriven Contractors Company Limited. Rennies Construction Company Limited. IDC Carriven Holdings Limited. Prudies Construction Services Limited. The confirmation of these bids has been determined. There were two unresponsive bids submitted by, shouldn't call people's names because that's a private document, I see it. Submitted by Prudies Construction Services Limited and Rennies Construction Company Limited. They were found to be unresponsive because one indicated that they would not be able to provide the financing for the project at this time. And the other had not gotten feedback from the consultants, from the financiers. All the bids were signed by each contractor. Then there's a comment on the rates and there is a evaluation by the Militia Physical Development. That evaluation would tell you there is then an analysis of the rates. Each of the contractors, the rates were analyzed, each of them, each of them. Recommendation. In light of the above analysis, we recommend that the contract be awarded to IDC Caribbean Holdings in the sum of four million, $579,089.97. Signed. Architect, financial analyst, agricultural assistance engineer, coin disappear. The government's internal procurement processes. After that. Legal review. Notice of assignment to the custody suites. Legal review analyzed by the city general and found to be compliant. You will not find the name or the involvement of any minister of government. Okay? There is not one document that anybody can show me. In the government's records that shows any prior cost for the custody suites. Questions? What's a known criminal? Okay. All right, let us suppose that is true. What's the mean of rehabilitation? So are we supposed to just cast everybody who's been in province of law? Just cast them aside, let them commit more crime? I thought it was about rehabilitation. I am not sure what you're talking about, but I thought it was about rehabilitation. Why are we going to, why you must be cast people aside because they had a problem in their life? People supposed to be rehabilitated? I mean, many people have been, some are caught, some are not caught. I'm sure that people will commit a crime and who are out. So you have no knowledge? I have no knowledge. Oh, you just did custody suites first. Because there was, first of all, there was no other side. And secondly, the judiciary had warned the former government, had begged that police and prison buildings should not be near judicial buildings. There's something called the doctrine of separation of powers. And if the two buildings near each other, it gave the perception that there was not separation. So the judiciary always complained that they did not want police headquarters near the House of Justice. That was a constant complaint. Now, let me tell you further. In 2017, the last government on the Dr. Kenya Anthony did propose and it got funded, funding for a police headquarters up Latok. Between 2020 and 2021, the government abandoned that process and they decided that they would have built a judicial complex and police headquarters on the side that they demolished. There is no document that says funding was ever procured for that. What I know is there are some bills at least one for a million dollars to be paid to an architect. I have not seen the plans. If they're there, I don't know. I'm not saying I haven't seen it. So there was never funding for any complex. What was there was the objection by the judicial people to allow the two complexes to be next to each other. So we decided that we would have built the House of Justice in the existing place where the courthouse is. These bills are going to be demolished. The Ministry of Education is going to be demolished, the old Ministry of Education, and we're going to build a complex there with an overpass. So the two bills are going to be joined together. If you go there now, you'll see soil tests are happening in this space as we speak. After the police headquarters, which we had intended to put back in the latoxides, the Police Welfare Association have been objecting. So we've yielded to the request and then we're going to be building or starting plans for the building of a police headquarters in the old sites. That was demolished. That is the future for that area. So the custody suites are going to be very near the prison quarters, which is similar, police and arrested people near each other so they can oversee that situation. That's going to be a permanent circuit. Yes, it's going to be meant the other. So that's going to be a law enforcement area and the judicial complex is going to be by the Catholic Church, which is always what they wanted. The people always complained that they did not want to be near police headquarters. I have no idea. You see, let me tell you the problem is in Russia. Everybody thinks they know everything. Nobody allows experts to... My job is to create the enabling environment and the policy for government's policy to go forward. I don't get involved in choosing contractors. I don't get involved in measuring sites. I don't get involved in making pronouncements on things in engineering. I don't make these pronouncements. I never studied engineering. So only what I know is that we've given the mandate to a contractor who is constant. And if you go, if you notice, that was the procurement plan that was set up for the custody, the procurement plan signed by the Deputy Chief Architect. And after that, there is what is called progress reports, progress reports that comes to the Ministry of National Security, progress reports. That is, we see, we trust our technocrats. We do not try to influence them one way or the other. We trust their professionalism. So to these questions, I listen and I take a word from the technocrats. So they give progress reports on the constitution on the land. You know what? Yeah, then you ask the police because they want to build it unless they consider the police. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it doesn't work. You see, interference in the police has been a cause, has been a great cause of what's happening now. Interference, you heard all the Commissioner of Police was attacked, right? That's the problem. Interference in the police, that is the problem. The police have got to account for their work. What we give is a policy directive. We say we want the custody suites to be built because we believe is that the holding cells have over parts and police driving arrested people around the country is not right. That's all we say. Then the police decide this to be. We need to hold itself for 20 and 20 people or 40 or 50 people and then they say that's it. And the policy plan and say that's what we can afford and that's where we go. We don't get involved. That's a problem. Politicians get involved in all these little nitty grits in these little things that create problems because they don't have the expertise to get involved in that. You never, not because you go for an election or you're a minister, you become an engineer. Some people have become engineers by, I don't know by what. They become engineers, they know about contractors, they know about contracts, they know about consultancies. I mean, I got a story about consultancies which is so ridiculous that I don't think it's good to respond. I mean, when people talk about consultancies, they know very well that the World Bank mandates that there must be consultancies for all the projects. You know what the last government did? They removed the World Bank sales that consultancies must be tendered. They removed that part from the documents and they proceeded to give the consultancies by Director Ward. I won't tell you who got the majority. That's the story on consultancies. They took it away, they took it away from the World Bank and they put it, did it by Director Ward and I won't tell you who got the majority of them. But all the World Bank, all World Bank projects is mandated that they have consultancies as the police. That's the job. No, they will not do that. They will not do that, they will not do that. No, no, no. You know construction and larger security of the consultancy suite was done with the police in tow? The police actually went there with the architects and they designed it. Part of the mission history, the Prime Minister was demolished. Yeah, no, I don't think it's a dark part. You know, again, we just mislead people the wrong way. Prisons are part of history. I mean, if you go into nature and the heritage tourism, there's a country in the world where the presidential palace is in an old prison, the presidential palace. We've got this thing about old buildings which is basically peddling ignorance. This old building thing. We live in a time when there's re-engineering where people convert these things into history, into historical sites. That's what heritage tourism is all about. To make, to take these buildings, reconfigure them but keep the old architecture. That's ancient architecture. If you go to London, if you go to Prince of London, there is ancient architecture which wasn't built with death, that's where, but it's there. There's a man there himself. Yeah, all over the world. I don't know why in solution people call these old buildings and repeat these things with impunity, old buildings. This is crazy. And you young people must demand better. Don't let people make these statements and get away with it. Old buildings, prisons are part of history. Even prisons have that pass? That is misleading. People take these things and the, because in there, you have the history of a whole generation. And yes, I just want you to, I just want to clarify these things for you. Yes. As I said last night in my address, there was a minimum wage committee that was formed by the cabinet. They have made, they've given one report to the cabinet. That report is being looked at. Then it's gonna be constant and intense consultation with the private sector. And hopefully before sometime this year, we'll announce a minimum wage, a minimum livable wage. Cricut West Indies recently released a fictionist for the upcoming Cricut Workup. What do you think of the package that we got? And what side are you looking forward to? I know Cricut is one of your partners. Yeah, well, you always want more. You want to be like the finals, but you don't have the finals. What we have is, it's good. We must make the maximum use of it. We're gonna be spending quite a sum on the Daren Sami grounds, also the mean Philip Park. If you go there now, you see the work that's been done there. And we are upgrading plain facetious for the island. In fact, this part of our infrastructural plan, understand? We're going to be upgrading and lighting plain face all over the country. And the Ministry of Sports will make an announcement very soon of what's going to happen to football in San Rusia. It's going to blow your minds. Additionally, would this be in the airport infrastructure? I know that some of the utility companies, particularly Vasco, had some infrastructural issues in the past. Would there be any plans? Yes, Vasco. People complain that the bill will have Vasco machetes up. That's what people complain about. But the problem is, you know, these things go, you know, we've been trying to develop this country and we've been developing ourselves as silos. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. The fact is, the pipes are beneath the roads. And these pipes are old. They didn't get old on 21st July, 2020, 2021. That's not when they got old. They were old before that. They were damaged before that. San Lucia's water issues didn't start in July, 2021. It never started there. They started from the issue with the distillation of the Rosa Dam, of which that story has not been fully ventilated. We're going to get a lot more about that, a lot more about that. That's when, so let's not pretend that San Lucia's problems began for water in July, which I didn't make, bang, a long time before. What's happening is that these pipes are, to use a better word, they are in need of repair. The pipeline from Gosele into the Norfolk country, it has issues. That's why we had to close. We had Vasco had to close it some time ago. There are issues there. We need to repair that. The investment in water has to be substantial. And that's part of our infrastructure also. Infrastructure is not only roads. Infrastructure is buildings, is water, et cetera. So Vasco is going to have that investment in that major pipeline. But in the meantime, what we try to do, is try to see when new construction is taking place. You can begin to dive with the pipes right away. And that's what causes a lot of the expense. So you say to myself, you've been spending a lot of money, but there's no road. The road is to move utilities. It's to move the pipes, to move the electricity poles, to move the telephone infrastructure. So that's the problem. So we have to see if we can work together. So the military infrastructure has to both get it for Vasco to see if you can do it simultaneously. Yes. Yes. And I'll take you there. I'll take you there. I'll take you there. I'll invite you, I'll invite the press to come and see these four computer buildings. I've told you, you're backing this contracted thing up. I've told you, I've said to you, I've said several times. You're actually looking for what's not there. No, I mean people looking for what's not there. You know, people just looking for what's not there. There's nothing there. Let me explain to you. The Saudis have mandated that there ought to be a tender process for the continuation of the works. I think that tender document is going to go out today, tomorrow, at some point, right? That goes. But an award was given to a contractor to prepare, repair and prepare the buildings that were abandoned. We seem to forget that these buildings were abandoned and left for rats and rodents and animals and grass. I'm not the one who left it. They weren't even clean. They were abandoned. We seem to have forgotten that. These buildings were abandoned. Apart from two of them being broken down, they were abandoned. But the news I have for you is all the buildings that they call old would have to be part of the box. You know, this misinformation about St. Jude is almost heartbreaking because the buildings that were left there, the buildings that we are using, would be part of the box, all of them. So after they left them abandoned, they have to go back and clean them and fix them. But they left them abandoned for two years. This is calling to heaven for vengeance. Even though you don't intend to, you leave it abandoned, you let grass and rats and take it over and bat it over, taxpayers' money, and nobody's asking any accountability for that. Even though you don't intend to use it, you leave it abandoned. I mean, think about it. Millions of dollars. And now you're speaking about going forward. Here's what we're doing going forward. Going forward, the contractor that was tasked by the government to fence the area, because you had to fence it, because if you didn't fence it, that's why it got in that state. Because it was not fence. It was open season. It wasn't fence. Irresponsible, high level of irresponsibility with the taxpayers' funds of this country. So here's what he did. We fenced it, and in that contractor was allowed to continue. And then the work is going to be evaluated by coin-to-surveyors, and an award will be given for the continuation of these works. That's what's going to happen. As I've brought to you, because I'm going to be the same to you for St. Jude, and I want to ask you to get the same documents for the work that was done on the box. I want the same documents. I want the evaluation by coin-to-surveyors, the procurement process for the work on the box. If you give me that, we're OK. Right. We're using two buildings from the box, physiotherapy and dialysis, right? And then two more buildings, and then the rest is going to be the east wing. It's the surgical part. But when I take it, you're going to be very pleased. You're going to be very, you're going to be excited, and please, you guys know you like Celusia. Well, four are being built now, and the rest would be what's there. And then I tell you something, there was also a chapel. Now, we know you're God-fearing people, right? So we're going to see if we can get the chapel funded also. But you're going to be very happy for St. Jude. And then we begin work on the stadium almost immediately. Almost immediately because, in fact, we're going to be, I think in this budget, I'm going to make a statement on the stadium. So these young people of this country will get back to the stadium, which has been abandoned. Yeah, sure, sure. I thought somebody would have asked that. You know, we can't look at gas prices in isolation. It's unfair. You have to look at it. In fact, I read somewhere that a release on the United Nations Party actually agreed that other countries were suffering from inflation. I mean, it was very paradoxical that, for that case, they actually agreed that countries in the OECS are suffering from the ills of inflation. You read that, right? You have your memory loss. You didn't read it? I don't get the first one. There was actually a release that said solution like all of the countries in the OECS are suffering from inflation. So they have admitted that solution is all the countries that they have invested in. That's at least a rare admission of truth. You can't look at the prices of gas in isolation. You have to look at the pricing of petroleum products, LPG, kerosene, diesel, and gasoline. Now, you also have to look at the taxes on these things. Solution has no tax on electricity. It has no tax, no VAT on electricity. It has no heaven security level on electricity. It has no VAT on water. It has no security level on water. You have to compare to the other countries where there is VAT on electricity, where there is VAT on water. Then look at the VAT rates. It's 70.5% in these countries. Some places more, I'm not sure. But it's not 10.5%. The resolution has the lowest VAT in the region. Then you have to look at volumes. And you have to look at subsidies. When gas was at $13, the subsidies on LPG was less than $10. It was seven something and eight something. The subsidies now on LPG sometimes goes and has $30. So this is what you have to look at. You have to look at the realistic picture. So it's very simple. You can reduce the subsidies on LPG and convert that price and convert and reduce the price on gas. Of course you can do that. Of course you can do that. But do you think that a single mother with five children will have to buy a tank of 20.0 LPG for $70? That's what we want? Is that what we want? That also, supply chain issues, that also. But look at the holistic, look at the holistically. The subsidies, I can reduce the subsidies on LPG. Of course we can do it. But we believe that single mothers in particular and lower income households, we can't allow them to pay $70 for a tank of 20.0 LPG. We can't. So you have to look at this gas thing holistically and the price of gas in Dominica was always cheaper than in St. Lucia. That didn't happen now. We seem to believe that the world started on 24th July. The world was there before that. It was always cheaper than St. Lucia. But we are reviewing every day and I can assure you, as soon as I believe and the cabinet concurs that there ought to be adjustments in the price of fuel, we will do it. That's what we're all about. We were not the ones who put the 150 extra. We were not the ones who did that. Again, we simply forget that. We were not the ones who increased gas taxes by 150. We were the ones who did that. But I can assure you that as soon as the situation changes, we are going to look at the price of gas and the pumps. Yes, it has not been removed. And we didn't say it's in the lock box because you never found that lock box. Okay? All right. Take care. Bye-bye.